THE MERCHANT OF
OF VENICE.'

SCENE I-Venice. A street. Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SOLANIO.

ACT I.

That curt'sy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
Solan. Believe me, sir, had I such venture

forth,

The better part of my affections would
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still
Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind;"
Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads;
And every object that might make me fear
Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt
Would make me sad.

Salar.
My wind, cooling my broth,
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at sea.
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run,
But I should think of shallows and of flats;

2. Salarino, and Solanio. In the Folio these names are variously spelt in various places of the play; but the mode proposed by Capell, and here adopted, of giving them uniformly, and abbreviated into Salar, and Solan., appears to be the best for obviating confusion. 3. It wearies e; you say it, &c. This passage affords an instance of Shakespeare's way of using "it" in reference to a previously unstated particular. In the present speech, indeed, this particular ("sadness") is subsequently named; but the peculiarity of style is here pointed out, as helping to illustrate other passages, where the poet's usage is less manifest, and where, consequently, the construction is more difficult of com

1. The earliest printed copies known of "THE MERCHANT OF VENICE" are two-both in quarto, and both published in 1600; and it appears as the ninth play in the 1623 Folio. But there is record that it was entered on the register of the Stationers' Company, on the 22nd July, 1598; and there is reason to believe that it was acted by the fellowship of actors of whom Shakespeare was one, in the year 1594. The poet was then thirty years of age, in the very prime of intellectual vigour, and we can well imagine this fine play to have been the product of his pen at that period of his life. There is a strength of purpose in it as a drama, a tone of experience in its views of men and life, a masterly treatment of character, and, withal, a wealth of romance about its story, that mark it for a composition on his arrival at manly maturity. The sources of the double plot-prehension. that of the bond, and of the caskets-are to be traced in the "Gesta Romanorum;" and very distinct vestiges of the bond story are to be found in the "Pecorone" of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, which existed in an English translation in Shakespeare's time. What adds to the probability that he availed himself of the latter is, that the name of the place where the lady lives who is the heroine of the tale is Belmont. But for the blending of the two plots into one supremely interesting story; for the poetry and refinement of its conduct; for the noble delineations of friendship and love; for the potent yet subtle development of hate sprung from mingled national and individual, professional and personal causes-malignant revenge pursued from motives of race-prejudice, social dislike, and moral antipathy; for the making a dramatic fable the means of vindicating a grand human brotherhood question,--for all this, Shakespeare is solely indebted to his own genius.

4. Argosies. The name given to large ships, either men-ofwar or merchantmen. It has been derived from Argo-the vessel in which Jason and the Argonauts set sail when they sought the golden fleece.

5. Signiors and rich burghers. Signior" is a title of dignity and respect among Italians. "Burghers" are privileged members of a corporate town or borough.

6. Plucking the grass, &c. Ascham says "This way I used in shooting. When I was in the myddle way betwixt the markes, which was an open place, there I toke a fethere, or a lyttle grasse, and so learned how the wind stood." Every one knows the sailor's method of holding up a moistened finger, that the side soonest feeling cold may indicate the quarter whence the wind blows.

7. Roads, Roadsteads. See Note 37, Act iii., "Comedy of Errors."

Ant. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for I pray you, have in mind where we must meet.